MORRILTON – Josh Keelin knows big fish, and he knew he was into something special May 14 below Arthur V. Ormond Lock and Dam on the Arkansas River.
“We catch 30- to 40-pound catfish all the time – mostly blues,” said Keelin, 25. They were good practice for Keelin’s 103-pound, 8-ounce, state-record bighead carp.
Keelin’s fish smashed the record of 75 pounds, 8 ounces caught in the Arkansas River May 17, 2002, by Mark Matthews of Arkadelphia. It also erased the unrestricted tackle record of 83 pounds taken from the Arkansas River May 9, 2004, by Richard Cole of Lonoke.
At 57 inches long and a 40-inch girth, Keelin’s carp presented quite a struggle.
“It went to peelin’ line – that line was singing,” Keelin said. “Then it was like it gave up. I guess it just wore him out.” Even so, the carp continued to fight for about 15 minutes.
Keelin was snagging with 60-pound-test line spooled on a Penn 320 reel with a 15-foot rod.
He and his friends may have found a new fishin’ hole, which could save some gas money. “We go down to Dumas a lot and we were gonna go down there, but we couldn’t get enough people that night,” Keelin said.[/b]
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